Wired Science’s Top Image Galleries of the Year

Many of our most popular posts are image galleries, and this year our readers favorite collections included microscope photos, doomsday scenarios, auroras and lots of images of Earth from space.

The satellite image above of Brasilia is part of the most popular post of the year.

Above:

Strange, Beautiful and Unexpected: Planned Cities Seen From Space

I think it's safe to say that our readers like looking at images of Earth from space almost as much as we do. Satellite imagery was the subject of four of Wired Science's 10 most popular galleries of 2012, with this gallery of planned cities topping the list.

10 Years of Aqua Satellite’s Incredible Images of Earth From Space

One of the stars of NASA's fleet of satellites is Aqua, named for its ability to measure water vapor in the atmosphere, water in the oceans, as well as ice and snow. As of May, Aqua's six instruments had been functioning perfectly for 10 years, gathering 29 million gigabytes of data in that time. This collection of some of Aqua's most beautiful images, including the one above of Mt. Etna erupting, was our second most popular gallery of the year.

Incredibly Small: Best Microscope Photos of the Year

For years, some of our most popular galleries have been collections of photomicrography, and this year the winners of the 38th annual Nikon Small World made our list. Part of the appeal of these photos is undoubtedly that they show us things we can't normally see. Another part is that the images are beautiful, informative, strange and mysterious all at the same time. This year's winners include super-close-ups of garlic (above), snail fossils, stinging nettle, bat embryos, bone cancer and a ladybug.

Rare, Beautiful and Disturbing Objects From the National Library of Medicine

Buried in the National Library of Medicine's collection of more than 17 million items are some pretty amazing, largely unseen objects from around the world. Our Apr. 2 gallery of our favorite images from the book Hidden Treasure was a hit with our readers.

The Nighttime Earth From Space Like You've Never Seen It Before

The Earth at night looks more beautiful than it ever has before in this Dec. 5 gallery of new images from NASA's fantastic Suomi NPP satellite. The super-high-resolution images are made possible by a new type of infrared sensor on the satellite, known as the "day-night band." The sensor has six times better spatial resolution and 250 times better resolution of lighting levels than anything that came before it.

10 Years of Gorgeous Images of Earth From Space

On Mar. 1, the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite passed its 10 year mark after more than 50,000 trips around the Earth. We celebrated the day with a collection of some of our favorite of this great satellite's beautiful images.

Scientific Doomsday: Ways the World Could Actually End

With all the talk of the end of the world 2012 was sure to bring, on Jan. 17 we decided to give our readers something a little more real to worry about. From supervolcanoes to asteroid impacts to killer viruses, this gallery of scientific doomsday scenarios was a good break from Mayan calendar speculation.

Curiosity Rover’s Self-Portraits Transport You to Mars

We've seen much more impressive images sent back to Earth from Curiosity, but on Aug. 17, this collection of some of the first photos from Mars captivated our readers. Something about the first shots that contained parts of the rover actually touching the surface of Mars made the situation seem more real.

Solar-Storm-Fueled Auroras Make for Awesome Backyard Photography

This year, the sun began waking up after several quiet years and bombarded the Earth with two consecutive solar storms in January. Many nights of spectacular auroras were seen from backyards around the Northern Hemisphere, and this collection of images of the lights was among our readers' favorites.

Humans on Mars: The Craziest, Weirdest, and Most Plausible Plans in History

Once Curiosity rover made it to Mars, the imagination naturally wandered to the possibility of people getting there some day. We took a look at some of the most interesting plans humans have made to send representatives to the Red Planet in this Aug. 9 gallery.